Life around here

The days are long but the years are short? This was not written by someone homeschooling five children. THE DAYS ARE SHORT and so are the weeks – and also the months actually – and suddenly two months have passed since you last wrote a blog with a bread recipe update… and all you have achieved in the ensuing time has been keeping everyone alive/fed/clothed/learning at an appropriate level of challenge and interest. NBD.

Educational walk

The good news is that I’ve brushed up my knowledge on the solar system, basic geology, factorials and Mesopotamia; read Charlotte’s Web aloud for the third time (finally managed to read it without crying, third time’s a charm), and eaten a lot of baked goods.

Educational cupcakes

Talking of baked goods, I highly recommend these healthy ish cookies. We stumbled across pumpkin seed butter lately so I now throw a tablespoon of that in and substitute the banana with applesauce and all five children think this is a massive treat while I am quietly celebrating the iron content.

Educational gardening

What else. We had Halloween – you all know I can’t stand Halloween – but this year we decided to skip the door-to-door and instead trade it in for a Spooky Walk for sweets in the garden. Mr tMatM took it pretty pretty seriously with DIY decor: cardboard gravestones, strobing bike lights, a boiler suit stuffed and topped with a paper bag head… complete with spooky music from Spotify.

Two of the children were sobbing about 20seconds after we started the treasure hunt, so I think we can call that a success? We had to switch the music off and cajole everyone back outside. Maybe I preferred the old skool pre-covid Halloweens after all.

Not educational, just terrifying

A trip to our local museum and a hot chocolate, followed by a bit of float plane watching while Hugo napped.

Post-educational trip

We also took a trip to China beach: these kind of mid week day trips feel very wholesome and peak homeschool. In a good way.

100% homeschool, 100% wholesome. You just know that they’re learning about crustaceans while peering into that rock pool and not fighting over who gets to keep that particular stone that looks astonishingly like many other stones on that very beach

And then, well, am I going to mention Christmas? Are we all on board with early Christmas prep? I mean I am, personally, all for a November Christmas tree under normal circumstances, so this year I feel particularly vindicated in my approach. Who wouldn’t want an extra week or two of Christmas joy?

Hugo is already nailing winter style

I did also have a semi-panicked walk around the Walmart toy section looking at Paw Patrol light up vehicles and hot wheel Monster Trucks, plus I have about 400 items in my amazon/H&M/M&S/John Lewis basket so my prep is basically done, no?

Mim (6) gets to grips with perspective

Okay. More soon, if I can. I’m sure homeschooling plus Christmas is going to be super relaxing. xxtMatM

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